The invention relates to an apparatus according to the preamble. An apparatus for storing and selling products wound in roll form is already known in which the unwinding article sets in motion two measuring means having measuring wheels. The spool bearings are connected by articulations or joints to the frame in order to permit a simple insertion of the new reels by tilting the arms carrying the reels. The reel bearings are screwed to a cover, which must be dismantled for changing purposes. Thus, both manipulation and the known apparatus are very complicated. (German Pat. No. 152 087).
If the winding product, such as cables or lines, is supplied without a spool and is placed on to a spool for further processing, it is also conventional practice to apply the wound article with a vertical spindle or axis and to adapt the core diameter to the internal diameter of the reel. For this purpose an auxiliary flange is provided with a multiply wound spiral guide common to all the blocks and on the outer edge of the spool flange is provided a device for adjusting the auxiliary flange comprising a gear mounted in rotary manner on the spool flange and which engages with a gear rim in the vicinity of the outer edge of the auxiliary flange. However, this device is also complicated and costly if fitted to the support frame of an apparatus of the aforementioned type used for carrying a plurality of such spools (German Pat. No. 1 254 425).
Pivot bearings for more than two interchangeable spools with a common rotation axis are also often provided with partly axially displaceable pivot pins for the spools. One pivot pin is constructed as an axially non-displaceable hollow pin, whilst the other pivot pin is axially displaceable in the hollow pin. However, this construction is also complicated and does not permit the replacement of the parts by those having different dimensions (German Pat. No. 1 264 203).
Finally devices for removing electrical line portions are known (DOS No. 21 19 926).
The further prior art discloses a brake for preventing the lagging of the winding article. However, this is separate from the aforementioned device for winding up such articles and both devices are complicated and require a large amount of space. In certain constructional embodiments the brake can be manually adjusted, but only by means of a constant brake pressure. Resetting is complicated and imprecise.
The aforementioned measuring devices also have the disadvantage that the wound article unwound from the spool is not precisely guided between the measuring reel and the guide. As a result of the lateral, superimposed spool mounting there is a different entry angle and the different thickness of the wound article leads to erroneous measurements because the article does not continuously rotate the measuring wheel. There is even a risk that the wound article will be completely free of the action of the measuring wheel and will slide out of the guide. The complete measuring process is then incorrect and must be repeated. In addition, as a result of wear grooves of the wound article appear in the cable guide. It is then no longer possible to cut to length smaller article diameters or alternatively imprecise measurements are obtained. Furthermore handling and manipulation are very difficult. The measuring wheel must be raised with one hand, whilst the other must be used for inserting the article into the guide beneath the measuring wheel, which often leads to time losses and to imprecise insertion. Imprecise results are also obtained as a result of the different shapes of the materials, e.g. flat or round cables.